My reading list this year, so far, is darker and more nonfiction than I had intended.

I can’t get away from reading some really dark stuff—post-apocalypse novels, nonfiction about the Deep State, our dystopian reality, geoengineering, and alternate news sources that follow the corruption and abuses of our political leaders. It mostly comes, I think, from a desire to know the truth of things and to not be blind-sided by events. What I find revealed in such study, though, are horrors difficult to accept and too big to fight. Or maybe I do fight, in my own way. Maybe the darkness repels me towards the light, and I seek solace in writing, exercise, and spiritual enlightenment. My wife supports me in this. Maybe you have similar feelings. If so, I hope you have some human support, too.

Well, all this has colored my recent readings, which have concerned societal collapse, the world’s dark realities, and spiritual themes. I haven’t posted reviews on all of them yet, but I will do so and you can follow them on the Arbordin Park Press website. I hope you will find some enlightenment and comfort from my work.

I’ll begin with a fiction. It’s an award-winning post-apocalypse novel called, Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. Though the book has its dark moments, it is a more hopeful take on its genre than is the usual. It depicts the coming collapse, but with a belief in the ultimate goodness of humanity that outweighs our Mad Maxx proclivities. I’m not that optimistic myself, but I did enjoy that aspect of Ms. Mandel’s story. I also enjoyed the love of the arts that runs through its pages. I took its hopeful theme as a reminder that people can be compassionate, even under difficult circumstances, and that we of the rank-and-file are better than our rulers.

Then there’s another literary thread I’ve been following that deals with our dark reality that will lead to collapse, if not to some dystopian horror beyond what even Orwell imagined. The first book in this vein is Chemtrails, HAARP, and the Full Spectrum Dominance of Planet Earth by Elana Freeland. This book describes the magnitude of the assaults being unleashed on the human populace by their rulers. These assaults include the wielding of Tesla-based technology that weaponizes Earth’s natural energy systems (we see it as constant chemtrail haze, highly selective “wild fires,” and extreme weather events), the spread of health-damaging low frequency radiation (WiFi), and even the mind-blowing, apparently real, concept of transhumanism (or maybe not so hard to believe—the Nazis wanted very much to create Aryan “supermen”).

Ms. Freeland tells her tale in clear prose, ably handling complex concepts. I found her book so compelling, I started reading her fiction-based-on-fact series about the modern rise of our fascist, neopagan ruling class. The first book in the series is called, SUB ROSA AMERICA and The Fall of the New Atlantis Book I: Gone to Croatan. It is not an easy read but does offer much to consider about the nature of the upper-upper classes who rule us and who seek to control us to the microscopic level (along with all aspects of our home planet).

I find Ms. Freeland’s work much related to that of Richard Dolan, whose UFOs and the National Security State books also deal with the secrecy and corruption of our ruling elites. I have reviewed these books of Mr. Dolan’s, and I intend to review another he put out last year: UFOs and Disclosure in the Trump Era. I think his concept of the “Breakaway Civilization” is especially relevant to understanding what’s happening to our world, and it supports the premises of Ms. Freeland’s books.

And then I read the latest book from Whitley Strieber called, The Afterlife Revolution. I think it’s his most compelling work since Communion. It concerns what Mr. Strieber has learned about souls and the nature of reality over the course of his life of paranormal experiences. A lot of that learning came from his wife and co-author, Anne, who died in 2015. It is an inspiring and hopeful book that helps sustain morale in these dark times.

You can see that I’ve done a lot of reading. I had hoped for it to be more of a literary vein, but a fascination with the bizarre nature of world events has kept me in the non-fiction arena. Even so, my writing has continued in the post-apocalypse SF mode and I’m pushing on with my Dentville novel. I hope to pull that to completion this year.

So you can see that I have a number of book reviews to post in the coming months, and I’m sure I’ll also be posting movie reviews. I might also get into a creative writing exercise that I’ll share either through posts on the Arbordin blog or maybe in newsletter issues. This would be mostly of interest to writers, which is basically anyone with an interest in expressing themselves via the written word—my kind of people.* * *

Buddhism interests me from way back. I like the practicality of it, with its emphasis on changing your life through better thinking, meditation, and personal insight. It has, I think, the potential for opening a person up to broad spiritual vistas. It even has numbered steps to reaching happiness: four Nobel Truths and an eightfold path. I also have become convinced, after years of reading on the subject, that meditation is a key to spiritual development and to effective living for an individual. This conviction has grown for me in the last couple of years that my wife and I have put such a big emphasis on physical fitness.

You see, we reached that point in our lives where getting fit reached a "now or never" point and so we joined a local fitness club (MUV). Following a program of taking various fitness classes and using personal trainers, we both reached a level of physical fitness we haven't had in a long time (or, never, in my case). Though the effort is hard work, it's better than being fat and constantly fatigued. I've been so amazed at the results, that I thought again about supplementing physical fitness with mental and spiritual fitness.

What I want is some instruction in meditating in the same way we found instruction and guidance for our physical work-outs. Over the years, I’ve done some book-studying on the subject and reached the point where I can easily enter the state of "remembering myself" (watching myself at the same time I'm watching everything around me) and can even do a traditional meditation of concentrating on my breathing. Self-remembering has been especially helpful, but I haven't made it a regular part of my life. I haven't reached the point of maintaining the state and going to deeper levels to find the insight and release I believe to be there. I need professional help.

So I made a Google search for meditation classes in my area and it returned a hit on a Buddhist Meditation Center within two miles of my house. It's the Kadampa Meditation Center and it offers classes for a fee comparable to fitness clubs. Recently, they put on a free public talk at the State Museum entitled, "The Art of Positive Thinking." We decided to attend.

Donna and I arrived at the museum on a Tuesday night, already tired from work and work-outs, but determined to give this thing a try. We were greeted at the door by smiling members of the Meditation Center who directed us to where the talk was being held. We climbed a set of stairs (open to the center of the spacious museum building) to find the specified meeting room. We signed in and took seats in uncomfortable chairs among a group of about 80 people making up the audience.

It was mostly an older group--a lot of apparent retirees such as the members of my writing group. Like me, I suppose, these were people who had reached the last quarter of life, wanting to find some real spiritual connection during this time when they are free of a full-time job. Of course, I’m still constrained by a full-time job, but I'm determined to not let that stop me.

The staff were friendly and did not pounce on us—asking why we were there or trying to get us to sign up for anything, or try to push any books on us (though they did have a table with a few books on it). I was encouraged.

At the top of the hour, the speaker arrived. She was a Buddhist nun, recently moved to Columbia from Florida. A smiling, mature woman with closely cropped hair and wearing glasses, she took a seat on a dais behind a large microphone and greeted us in a warm, soft voice.

She began by guiding the audience through a simple breathing meditation. She gave no instruction as to the form, other than saying we should bring our awareness to our breaths. So I shifted into self-rememberance and observed my breath. She offered a few words of calm guidance for a couple of minutes and then instructed us to release.

She then began her talk, which was basically about letting go of annoyances and angers, and adopt a positive attitude. She supported this with examples (like the positive and negative attiudes she recently observed at a Waffle House) and with some quotes from Gautama Buddha and from her own guru.

Now this talk may sound simplistic, but that's the nature of Buddhism—profundity in simplicity. It's also its attraction and strength. I think the talk could have been entitled "The Art of Skillful Thinking" and that is the slant the nun took. Skillful (or “right”) thinking is a part of Buddha's eightfold path to happiness (which is skillful application of: Understanding, Thinking, Speech, Action, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration). Assimilating the path into your life is the work of Buddhism facilitated by certain tools, the chief of which is meditation.

I can't say the talk produced any great insights for me, though I enjoyed it and appreciated the congenial and nonthreatening atmosphere. It confirmed my anticipation of what an introductory Buddhist talk would be, and I found that encouraging. My wife also seemed to enjoy it to the point that she was interested in reading about Buddhist concepts. I referred her to a book in my library: Eight Mindful Steps to Happiness: Walking the Buddha's Path by Bhante Gunaratana. We have also downloaded a free Kindle book suggested at the talk: How to Transform Your Life: A Blissful Journey by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.

And so we begin 2018 with another new start. We’ll attend some classes at the Kadampa Center and see where they lead us. There are indications on the Kadampa website that they offer some deep teaching in Buddhist thought and meditation. My primary interest is meditation. I'll let you know how it goes.